An IT contractor who stole more than $66,000 from individuals and businesses after accessing financial details in the Australian National Maritime Museum’s (ANMM) accounts payable system has been sent to jail.

The 25-year-old Sydney man was working as a contractor with a third-party provider to the federally operated ANMM in Sydney, when he unlawfully obtained financial details recorded in its systems and changed bank account details to his own.

The contractor made fraudulent purchases including $15,000 on 4WD upgrades and mechanical work, and more than $20,000 on IT equipment, the AFP said.

The man was arrested by AFP cybercrime operations officers last March after the museum noticed irregularities in its financial records and made a report.

The man was convicted and sentenced to up to two and a half years jail in Central Local Court last week.

AFP Detective Superintendent Tim Stainton said the man exploited his trusted position of employment to fraudulently access and spend thousands of dollars belonging to others for his own benefit.

“The greedy behaviour in this matter came at the expense of hard-working Australian individuals and business owners,” he said.

The AFP launched the Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre (JPC3) in March 2022 in response to the escalating cybercrime threat in Australia.